One type of conventional prune pitting machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,281, issued Jan. 19, 1971. Another conventional prune pitting machine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,153,473, issued Oct. 20, 1964. However, such machines have had several limitations and disadvantages, including the following: they have had a large number of components, including a large number of components subject to wear and frequent replacement (e.g., more than three hundred pitting rubbers); they have required complicated and time-consuming maintenance, timing, and repair procedures (e.g., complicated disassembly in order to replace pitting rubbers); and they have required power-consuming means (e.g., fly wheel assembly 166 for vibrating the feed area of the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 3,153,473) for properly orienting a prune in each prune carrier.
It had not been known until the present invention how to design an apparatus for pitting articles, such as prunes or dates, in a manner overcoming the noted disadvantages and limitations of conventional pitting apparatus.